Thursday, June 4, 2009

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2009 -- Coalition and Iraqi forces detained more than 20 suspects during several recent operations in Iraq’s capital city and the country’s Diyala province.

Early June 1, U.S. soldiers working with Iraqi soldiers and police executed warrants and arrested two wanted men in northwestern Baghdad’s Ghazaliya neighborhood.

The forces confiscated assault rifles from the men and moved them to secure locations for further questioning.

On May 31, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers and Iraqi police executed an arrest warrant on a Ghazaliya man who is believed to be responsible for an attack on coalition forces using a bomb specifically designed to pierce armor.

The previous day, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers on a combined patrol with Iraqi security forces in the Abu Ghraib district west of Baghdad saw two suspicious men who fled to a house as the convoy approached. The soldiers followed them, arresting the men and two women who were with them. Three of the suspects tested positive for handling bomb-making material.

In operations on May 28, an Iraqi emergency response force in Baqubah, working with coalition forces and acting under warrants, arrested 11 suspects believed responsible for violent attacks against local residents and Iraqi security forces in an effort to destabilize the improved security conditions of the Kanaan area. They also are believed to be directly responsible for funding terrorist operations and orchestrating an anti-Iraqi propaganda campaign designed to intimidate the local populace. The response force also confiscated items of interest during the Iraqi-planned and -led operation.

On May 26, the same emergency response force, working with coalition advisors, arrested a suspected high-level terrorist cell leader on a warrant. Two other suspects were detained during an operation in the Diyala province. All three are suspected of leading a terrorist cell responsible for funding anti-Iraqi operations and carrying out attacks against Iraqi security forces. They’re also believed to be directly responsible for an attack that killed an Iraqi doctor and his family, officials said.